In 2365, a duplicate of the El-Baz was found adrift in deep space by the Enterprise-D, with a duplicate CaptainJean-Luc Picard at the controls. Examination of the shuttle determined it came from several hours into the future and that it escaped the destruction of the Enterprise at the hands of a space-borne entity. The duplicates disappeared after the "present" Picard discovered a way to avert the ship's destruction. (TNG: "Time Squared")

Early in the next year, the El-Baz was listed on the shuttlebay operations display as being overhauled in Hangar 4. (TNG: "Evolution")

The El-Baz was named after planetary geologist Farouk El-Baz. [1] It was the first type 15 shuttlepod seen on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Rick Sternbach recalled on the naming, "And in a supreme example of coincidence, I had suggested that one of the the little boxy shuttlepods in TNG be named El-Baz, after Farouk El-Baz, one of the Apollo lunar geology experts (one of my faves along with Hal Masursky). We had no idea that Rick Berman actually did some filming with El-Baz ages before Trek. The name was approved. The other part of the story goes that his kids were watching TNG the night the pod was featured and yelled out that the shuttle had the same name. Neat." [X]wbm